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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Randy Pausch's Last Words

Many of you have seen Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture on Youtube and elsewhere. If not, check it out (1 hr, 16min):

Although his talk does not directly relate to medicine, it is generally applicable to people in many walks of life. For us in medicine, I think the parts about brick walls within "The Last Lecture" are especially useful. A recent post noted what were quite possibly his final words:

Mr. Seabolt only shared a few moments with viewers, noting that even near death, Dr. Pausch’s sense of humor remained. He said Dr. Pausch talked about how glad he was that he was home and his family and friend were close, and laughed, saying, “I just feel so bad about the dying part.”

Mr. Seabolt also relayed a conversation he had with Dr. Pausch’s 6-year-old son, Dylan. They were talking about cancer and he told the boy that “some problems can’t be solved, or they can’t be solved yet.'’

Dylan responded, “My daddy has taught me that every problem can be solved, and that I should believe that every problem can be solved, and that I’m strong enough and smart enough that I should never let a problem get in my way.”

At the end, as Dr. Pausch’s body was clearly failing, Mr. Seabolt said he told his friend, “It’s important for you to feel like you can let go. It’s okay.”

Dr. Pausch’s reply: “I’ll get back to you on that.'’

And those, according to Mr. Seabolt, were the final words of Randy Pausch.

Hopefully some good has come of his tragically early loss to pancreatic cancer.